Israeli Forces and Settlers Attack Ambulance Crew in West Bank — Six Injured in Friday's Escalation Across Nablus, Bethlehem, and Qalandiya

On Friday, August 7, 2026, Israeli forces and settlers carried out a series of coordinated attacks across the occupied West Bank, injuring at least six Palestinians — including two paramedics — in Nablus and Bethlehem, while a separate large-scale military raid in the Qalandiya refugee camp injured dozens more. These incidents are part of a sharp escalation in settler violence and military operations since October 2023, which UN agencies and human rights organizations now describe as reaching unprecedented levels.

Friday, August 7 attacks — by location

Bethlehem area (Khalayel al-Loz / Abu Njeim)

Settlers attacked a Palestine Red Crescent ambulance near Bethlehem, spraying two paramedics with pepper spray and pelting the vehicle with stones, injuring both medics . In a separate incident in Abu Njeim village, southeast of Bethlehem, settlers opened live fire, wounding a Palestinian resident .

Nablus area (Beit Furik)

Israeli forces and settlers raided Beit Furik, east of Nablus, where troops beat and detained a Palestinian man . The Palestine Red Crescent treated that man for injuries sustained during the beating before his arrest .

Qalandiya refugee camp (Ramallah area)

Israeli forces launched a large-scale military raid. The Palestine Red Crescent reported 48–51 Palestinians injured since the raid began Thursday, with local media reporting home demolitions and the uprooting of olive trees on 316 dunams (78 acres) of Palestinian land .

Broader pattern since October 2023

Violence in the West Bank has intensified dramatically since the start of the Gaza war on October 7, 2023. Key trends documented by UN and human rights sources include:

• Killings: At least 1,111 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem since October 2023, including at least 243 children. At least 65 of those deaths occurred in 2026 alone .
• Settler attacks: UN OCHA documented 1,828 settler attacks resulting in casualties or property damage across approximately 280 communities in 2025 — averaging five per day, the highest daily average since OCHA began recording . Between January 2025 and June 2026, there were 3,033 recorded settler attacks .
• Settler-caused injuries: These rose from one every three days in 2020 to an average of two per day in 2025 and more than three per day in 2026. Settler attacks now account for 55% of all Palestinian injuries in the West Bank this year .
• Displacement: Israel has forcibly displaced 64 Palestinian communities (more than 4,300 people) since October 2023, a scale not seen since the 1967 occupation . January 2026 saw the highest monthly displacement since the war began .
• State-backed violence: The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) warned on July 29, 2026 that settler violence has reached an "all-time high" and that settlers and Israeli security forces have "often" acted together to attack Palestinian communities .

International concern

The UN Security Council was briefed in late July 2026 by a senior UN official who described the situation as "rapidly deteriorating" . OHCHR, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and Israeli rights group B'Tselem have all issued urgent warnings, with Amnesty characterizing the violence as part of an "ethnic cleansing" campaign . UN experts have warned of an "existential risk" to Palestinian communities' presence on the land .